Along with Tony Stark, Captain Kirk and James Franco: Witch Hunter, this Sunday’s rash of Super Bowl-timed trailers provided a glimpse into the next chapter of cinema’s most improbable franchise: Fast and Furious 6 (or what we’re referring to now and forever as Fa6t and Furiou6).

Who would have guessed that the original 2001 action flick — a cheap and disposable bit of machismo from director Rob “xXx” Cohen — would spawn five sequels, each exponentially better than the last? Oh, we’re not joking — ever since Justin Lin took over directing duties with 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the series has developed a delightfully self-aware tone that’s allowed itself to both mock and celebrate its explosive set pieces and homoeroticism.

Still think we’re kidding? OK, then just take a look at this excellent fight scene between the two bulges of muscle and sinew better known to casting agents as Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson from Fast Five:

Each second feels like we’re getting that much closer to a passionate embrace, and there’s enough sweat and spit to please even the most diehard of slash fiction fans.

The series is no longer about fast cars and faster girls — although, yes, it will still make room for the obligatory groupies-grinding-on-cars scene — and it’s completely abandoned the drag-race (hey-o!) underground it once so desperately tried to expose. Hardly anyone beyond Tokyo Drift actually races in the films — instead, the series has adopted a more box office-friendly genre: the heist film.

And with this mid-stream genre switch came a realization that while the Fast series could just be a hugely expensive and slick advertisement for Nos, it can also revel in its own ridiculousness like no action franchise before.

So, needless to say, we’re excited for the new film. But with our excitement comes a slight bit of hesitation, as we’ve been scratching our continuity-obsessed heads ever since Fast & Furious (a.k.a. 4ast & 4urious) came out in 2009: Are all these movies just prequels to Tokyo Drift?

If you’ll indulge us for a moment (and if you’re still reading this, you likely have already maxed your indulgence levels for the day): In Tokyo Drift, director Justin Lin pulled off something just as daring as Dominic Toretto and the gang by introducing the character of Han to the Fast universe/galaxy (Furioverse? Fastaxy?).

Han, you see, is actually a smooth-talking schemer from Lin’s directorial debut, an indie crime drama called Better Luck Next Time, and is played by the same actor, Sung Kang. Long story short-ish: Han dies in Tokyo Driftduring a particularly excellent chase scene, fuelling the film’s lead character (a rather boring American teen played by Lucas Black) to seek revenge, etc. The movie memorably closes with a cameo from Diesel’s Dominic, who challenges Bland American Boy to a race, presumably setting up the fourth movie.

But that would be too easy. Instead, the fourth film picks up five years after the events of Cohen’s original film (2 Fast 2 Furious was Diesel-less, and focused only on Paul Walker’s undercover cop character, Brian O’Conner, a.k.a. the original Bland American Boy), and finds Dominic working with a few new faces, including … Han! The film ends with Brian and the rest of the gang busting Dominic loose from federal custody, setting up Fast Five.

Lest you think Han flew over to Tokyo and got himself killed in between parts four and five — and thus straightening out some zig-zaggy continuity — the character appears alive and well again in Fast Five. Lin, in the director’s chair once more, even has Han utter a line toward the end of the movie about visiting “Tokyo one day,” thus confirming the TDT (Tokyo Drift Timeline, naturally) has yet to occur.

Lin and Co could have called it a day right then and there, though, but, as the trailer for Fa6t and Furiou6 shows, Han is back in the game. Maddening, no? (Of course, there’s also the theory floated by some — OK, we found one dude on a message board — that Han faked his death in Tokyo Drift, just like Michelle Rodriguez’s character apparently staged her demise in part four, if the trailer for Fa6t & Furiou6 is to be believed.)

It’s a small bit of continuity, but we are nerds, and thus are fascinated by the move. It’s akin to the old Simpsons episode where Millhouse demands to know when, exactly, Itchy and Scratchy are going to get to the fireworks factory. We, too, are curious as to when — finally, mercifully — Dominic and Han will make it to Tokyo for all the drifting and whatnot.

If the franchise’s grand plans do indeed lead to some land-of-the-rising-sun finale, we expect one massive Japanese car-crash spectacular. And some Diesel-on-Rock smooching, too.

UPDATE: On Feb. 14, Ain’t It Cool News released its own special Valentine’s Day gift to Fast & Furious fans with this massive spoiler on both the ending of Fast & Furious 6 and the beginning of Fast & Furious 7. Yes, Part 7. It appears the long-ago rumour of Justin Lin filming two Fast films back to back is making the rounds again, though this time AICN purports to know not only the villain of Fast 7, but also how the entire series lines up with Tokyo Drift. It’s an exciting piece of gossip for Fast nerds, though, again, consider this a massive spoiler warning.